Book 75, 2022
Life Among the Tombstones by H.R. Boldwood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Finished an ebook novella last night. It was Life Among the Tombstones by HR Boldwood, and it's the first (perhaps a prequel?) in the "Allie Nighthawk" urban fantasy series. The main character is corpse whisperer Allie Nighthawk, and narrative is in her first person pov.
As a corpse whisperer, Allie not only kills zombies, she also has the ability to raise the dead. She has been called on to use her skill to help solve murders. When jobs are few and far between and money is scarce, Allie returns to Cincinnati, where she at least will have a roof over her head. Her father left her his house when he passed. Allie doesn't even make it home before she puts down a "freshie", a newly-animated zombie, that some local cops thought was a homeless man. Now that the police know she's in town, Allie is called upon to raise the corpse of a high-price call girl, in hopes of finding out who killed her. From there, Allie finds herself drawn into the murder investigation, along with a partner, Harry, as they try to piece together the clues that Veronica provided. Sticking her nose where it doesn't belong lands Allie in danger, but she's not going down without a fight.
I liked this story. Characterizations were stellar, including secondary characters and even the pets that are introduced. There was a good pace throughout, and I enjoyed Allie's sarcasm, wit, and pluck. What I didn't care for was that Allie referred to her inner conscience, voice of reason, what have you, as "Little Allie", like she was a separate entity. Odd. I hated that the author killed off a main player. Didn't like that at the end, people Allie had come to like and rely on were suddenly going off to bigger and better things, leaving her adrift and alone again. Also didn't care for the epilogue, which seemed more like it should be the prequel of the next book. Maddening. Finally, the bad guy was fairly easy to guess. The author didn't introduce enough characters to make it difficult to suss out.
Favorite lines:
♦ "Do you have any idea what kind of shit storm you could find yourself in?" // Obviously, Cap didn't know me very well. I live in a swirling vortex of shit.
♦ "I'm a bottomless pit of contempt. Ask anyone."
♦ Well, slap my silly ass and call me Sally!
Once again, I'd dearly love to give half-stars. This deserves 3.5. Hm. It was enjoyable enough I'll round up to a four.